No two dental practices are the same. This has its advantages; patients can find services that best suit their unique needs, and clinicians can find working environments that match their ambitions, skills and approaches to dental care.
However, with many ways to structure and operate a dental practice, there also comes the need to mould management systems to suit different workflows. Today, many practices will be using digital dental practice management software, as the modern age steps away from physical, paper-based systems. This creates new opportunities for success, with cloud-based solutions enabling management and immediate insight into everyday performance from nearly anywhere.
Clinicians should consider which key insights and statistics will matter most depending on the set-up of the practice, whether it purely serves private patients, NHS patients, or a mix of the two. This will help them find an effective, reliable software that informs every decision appropriately.
On top of the books
When solely providing private dental care, it’s vital that practice teams can track the viability and profitability of treatments, ensuring that they can continue to provide effective care into the future.
A digital practice management system enables professionals to connect information from various areas in the practice, pulling out key details that can otherwise be time-consuming to collate. It also avoids the manual processing of medical data, which could otherwise increase the risk of errors across documentation and procedure planning.[i]
For a private dental practice, it would be useful to assess which treatments are being performed and requested most often, and which clinicians in the building are successfully providing such care. Not only could this inform marketing campaigns online and in the local community, but also help professionals tailor their care and potentially seek further training to provide even higher quality services and meet the demands of their patients.
Dental professionals will consider the provision of effective healthcare as their top priority, and business management may be thought of as secondary. Whilst some may embrace the commercial aspect of the role, it can be difficult for many others to confidently tackle each demand. When leading a private practice, however, it’s important to be able to keep track of finances and other KPIs – digital systems not only transform data from spreadsheets into more digestible visuals, but can also do so in real time, giving professionals up-to-date information.
Tracking UDAs
For a practice operating NHS dental care, adherence to the terms of the pre-agreed NHS dental contract is paramount. There is a delicate balance in providing the correct volume of care, measured through units of dental activity (UDA), without underserving patients in your community – triggering a financial clawback – as well as overperforming, and leaving the practice without the ability to be appropriately reimbursed. The latter is a problem that has been recognised across the healthcare and political spectrums,[ii] but as long as it remains, dental practices need to be able to work effectively within it.
A digital practice management system can be effective by aiding the tracking of UDAs performed, ensuring professionals are on course throughout the year. Should a practice fall behind, the data will present the need to increase services provided to patients, enabling an action plan to be put in place, and reducing the risk of financial clawback. If a practice is ahead, the data can show this information and ensure clinicians can make appropriate and timely decisions.
It’s vital that a chosen practice management system is certified by the NHS Dental Services (NHSDS). This ensures that the system can transmit NHS dental claims in both test and live environments,[iii] meaning clinicians can better trust it to manage this aspect of practice data management.
No matter your service or size
Many practices will combine private and NHS care under one roof – or even multiple. In this case, it’s vital that a practice management system can flexibly suit a dental team’s needs, from insights on each stream of care in a single building, to the overall performance of a group of practices.
A chosen service must be able to collate such data, and present it in easily accessible and interpretable ways, allowing for informed decisions to be made simply and with confidence.
Sensei Cloud, the cloud-based practice management solution from Carestream Dental, supports dental teams with an easier, smarter, more secure and more convenient approach to practice management. The comprehensive system collates a variety of key information and ensures KPIs are presented clearly across financial and performance metrics. Plus, clinicians can easily assess NHS claims, as well as live information on how the practice is performing – with cloud-based capabilities, they can do this from anywhere in the world.
Scaling a practice management system to your needs is paramount, but everyday demands change dependent on the care provided. A flexible system will be able to keep on top of various tasks, giving dental professionals the best opportunities for success.
To learn more about how Sensei Cloud can help your practice thrive, visit gosensei.co.uk.
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Author Claire McCarthy – Senior Director of Program & Process Excellence
[i] Kharchenko, B. (2023). Analyzing and evaluating existing dental practice management software: A comprehensive study to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
[ii] Garratt, K., Danechi, S., (2025). NHS dentistry in England. House of Commons Library (Online) Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9597/ [Accessed December 2025]
[iii] NHS Business Services Authority, (2025). Certified dental practice management software systems (updated 9 May 2025). (Online) Available at: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2025-05/27032025_DPMS_Contact_List_0.2.pdf [Accessed December 2025]
